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ILLUSTRATED 



AND 



INSTRUCTIVE BOOK 



ON 



GRAIN STACKING. 



WKTTTEN BY 

CASPER ZIMMERMAN 



NEW YORK 

1885. 



ILLUSTRATED 



AND 



INSTRUCTIVE BOOK 



ON 



GRAIN STACKING. 



WRITTEN BY 

CASPER ZIMMERMAN 









NEW YORK: 

1885. 



^0 



n« 



Macgowan & Slipper, Printers, 
38 & 30 Beekman St. 



ILLUSTRATED 

AND 

INSTRUCTIVE BOOK 

ON 

GRAIN STACKING. 



Where there are so many bushels of grain destroyed 
every year by poor stacking, and when it is as easy to 
make a good one, I take this means of placing before the 
public this book of instructions, for the good of the whole 
country. 

When you commence to make your stack, stand the first 
bundle up perpendicular, and then one on each of the 
four sides, and then one after another around until you 
form a ring around these central bundles. Continue so 
doing, keeping the bundles perpendicular, until the bottom 
of the stack is the size required. Then leave the heads of 
the bundles lower, and let the butts rise, for the butts of 
the bundles being larger than the heads will soon raise the 
outside of the stack to a level; then keep it so until you 
get the stack eight or ten feet high from the ground, still 
letting it project out at the top, so as to form a stack as 
shown in cut No. 1. 

By the time your stack is finished, the largest part of the 
stack, or the bulge, as it is often called, will settle so as to 




Mofec^" 



Cut 1. 




Cm 2. 



be only four or five feet from the ground, instead of eight 
or ten, as it was when you first commenced to draw in the 
stack. Out No. 1 represents the bottom of the stack. 

Cut No. 2, the widest part, or where you commence to 
draw in for the topping of the stack. Then, when you 
want to keep the center of the stack high and rounding, as 
shown in cut No. 2, keep the center high all the time un- 
til your stack is completed. When you have the stack 
high enough to commence to draw in for the topping, let a 
few rows of the bundles project out, so as to lead off the 
water from the lower part of the stack. Then commence 
to draw in little by little, and after you commence to draw 
in, never kneel on the outside row, but kneel on the second 
or inside rows of bundles. 

The outside row of bundles is called the first row, and 
the second, and third, and so on, always keeping the heads 
of the bundles toward the center of the stack; if one wishes, 
he can throw some of the bundles in the center while 
standing, in order to rest his knees and back; but in laying 
the second, third, and fourth rows, one can work to bet- 
ter advantage on his knees, for while he is laying one 
bundle with one hand, with the other hand he can catch 
the next bundle from the pitcher, and in that way he can 
stack as fast as the assistant can pitch to him. Be careful 
never to kneel on the outside row after commencing to 
draw in. Kneeling on the second row makes that solid ; 
then lay the third row one half on the second, and fourth 
row one half on the third ; this will raise up the center of 
the stack. 

Cut No. 3 shows when commencing to draw in, kneeling 
on the second row, and not the first. This leaves the first 



or outside row of bundles more loose than the others, there- 
fore, when the stack is settling, the outside row of bundles 
will settle more, and so makes them pitch down so they 
will lead off the water. If you see that the stack is inclined 
to get lower on one side than on the other, then, when you 
come to that point with your rows, lay the bundles closer 
together, and in that way you will soon raise it to the 
desired level. 

A great many times when a person is stacking, and 
the stack gets lower on one side than on the other, farmers 
do not know how to overcome the difficulty, and so they 
have a crooked stack, when it is just as easy to straighten 
it as for a mechanic to plane a piece of pine board. 

In cut No. 5 I will show the way good and poor stacks 
are made, and how they look, and also explain the correct 
and incorrect way of building, as I think I am master of 
grain stacking. I have had stacks of grain stand one year 
in Minnesota, through the Minnesota blizzards, and when 
thrashed did not have one bushel of damaged or wet 
grain, except a little dampness on the bottom, drawn from 
the ground. Last year there were thousands of bushels of 
grain spoiled on account of poor stacking ; many farmers 
lost hundreds of bushels of grain, while now the small sum 
of fifty cents (50 cents) will save his grain, viz., the price 
of this book. 

It is not that I want to get this book up for a great 
speculation, but for the good of the whole country, not 
saying if a farmer buys one of these books that he can save 
all his grain without damage, but this book will save 
thousands of bushels of grain, if a man has any ingenuity. 
A man with any talent can learn to stack by the help of 



8 



this book. Stacking in this Western country will always 
have to be done. Farmers can not all thrash out of the 
shock, for it requires too many men and teams, and the 




Cut 4. 



grain must be very dry to thrash out of the shock ; but 
stacking can be done when the grain is more damp, and by 
leaving it in the stack a month or two it will dry, or 



sweat out. The wheat, after being stacked this way, when 
thrashed looks better, keeps better, and will bring a better 
price in the market. 
Stacks containing from six to fourteen good loads are 




Cut 5. 

about the best size to build, and four stacks together for a 
setting of the machine is the handiest to work. The stacks 
should not be too high, for it is hard for the pitcher to 
pitch up on them, and the wind has more chance to blow 
them over. A stack may be ever so tall and pointed, and 
have the bundles slant down toward the center, and the 



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stack will draw in the water until it is like a wet sponge. 
If, however, the bundles lean down to the outside well, 
and are even quite flat, the water will be led off to the 
ground. In finishing a stack, some of the smallest bundles 
should be put on the top, and then a large bundle should 
be well bound on one end and well spread on the other, 
and place it perpendicular on the top of the stack ; then 
take a sharp stick six or eight feet long, and push down 
through the bundle in the stack, letting the stick project 
out. That will keep the top from blowing over, unless a 
very severe wind comes. 

Some farmers never like to leave a stack open over 
night. That trouble is easily overcome. One good load 
of bundles makes a temporary top, or a roof. By filling 
up the middle, if you are on the lower part of the stack, 
and if on the upper part of the stack your center ought 
always to be high. Then you place your bundles slant- 
ing down toward the outside, and then, if it rains in the 
night, it will lead off, or, as some say, will shed the water 
and if rain does not come, you are nothing out. In the 
morning the bundles will naturally be damp from the dew, 
and that will prevent the bundles from slipping, and you 
can commence to build upon that same top. Be sure and 
have the bundles lean down toward the outside. 



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Cut 



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